In the computer industry, customers prefer to know which combinations of hardware components, hardware chipsets, firmware, software, etc. are compatible. Accordingly, most vendors test and certify the compatibility of their products. For example, independent software vendors (ISVs) and independent hardware vendors (IHVs) typically certify which of their products are compatible with a particular version of an operating system or version of software. Conventionally, the certification process involves running a suite of tests on one or more computer systems that include the product to be certified.
Unfortunately, the variety of configuration options of computing equipment has increased tremendously. There is now a wide range of options in processors, chipsets, peripherals, storage devices, device drivers available for use in computer systems. This results in a virtually endless range of possible configurations for computer systems. In addition, the available options for computer systems are constantly changing as products are updated or as new products are released. Thus, most vendors can only test their products in a limited number of configurations, which do not account for all of the available options. This increases the risk that a product will not work in a particular system.
Vendors could simply conduct more testing across a greater number of systems. However, such an increase in testing would prolong the time the vendor would take to bring their products to market. In addition, it would be difficult for vendors to track all of the various options and determine when sufficient testing has been conducted.
Accordingly, it may be desirable to provide methods and systems for efficiently certifying products. It may also be desirable to minimize the amount of testing required for certification so that vendors can release their products to the market more quickly.